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SANFORD – In the first test of the round of 32 players in the 85th Maine Amateur Golf Championship, more than half of the top 16 seeds did not get past the opening day of match play Wednesday at Sanford Country Club.
Defending champion Ricky Jones of Thomaston did survive. Jones, the top seed after two days of medal-play qualifying, edged Justin Ball, playing out of Gorham Country Club,1 up in weather that alternated between drizzle and rain.
Thirteen-time Amateur champ Mark Plummer of Manchester, the No. 4 seed, was ousted, however, along with No. 3 Corey Poulin of Skowhegan, No. 5 Scott Dewitt of Biddeford, No. 6 Joe Alvarez of Holden, and No. 8 Jay Livingston of Kennebunkport. Seventh seed Todd Kirn of Sanford forfeited due to injury.
Poulin trailed No. 30 Jason Gall of Cumberland by one hole coming down 18 and thought he extended the match to a sudden-death playoff when he chipped in for birdie from more than 50 feet, but Gall drained a 25-foot birdie putt right after Poulin’s heroic effort to close out the match.
“I felt like Phil Mickelson for a second,” said Poulin. “I don’t know how I feel now.”
Gary Manoogian of Westbrook, the No. 29 seed, took Plummer to extra holes before winning 1 up on the 22nd.
Jeff Wass of Rockland took Dewitt, one of last year’s semifinalists, to sudden death before beating him on the 21st hole; No. 27 Ron Dery, playing out of Biddeford-Saco Country Club, defeated Alvarez 2 and 1; and No. 25 Keith Patterson, also out of of Biddeford-Saco, eliminated Livingston, who lost in the final to Jones last year, 3 and 1.
J.J. Frost of Brewer, the No. 15 seed, won the 18th hole to even his match with John Whiteman of Saco, then pulled out a 1 up victory on the 20th hole.
Ninth seed Toby Spector of Waterville had the quickest match, defeating Shawn McKague of Riverside Municipal Golf Course in Portland 8 and 7.
Second seed John Bauman of Kennebunk narrowly advanced, like Jones, with a 1 up victory over No. 31 Mike Nowak of Augusta.
The winners advanced to this morning’s second round, and those winners will play in the quarterfinals this afternoon. The quarterfinal victors will play in Friday morning’s semifinals, and the two finalists are scheduled to play Friday afternoon.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” said Frost. “It’s another chance to redeem myself.”
“I had stone hands all day on the greens,” explained Frost. “If I had a 25-foot putt, I’d hit it 35 feet. I was driving myself batty.”
Frost, trailing by one hole, reached the 18th green in two about 35 feet below the pin. Whiteman was short of the green but chipped to about 7 feet.
Frost came close to sinking his putt but ran it about 2 feet past, leaving Whiteman a chance to close out the match. Whiteman’s putt lipped out, though, and Frost made his to extend the match.
“I was surprised he missed,” said Frost. “He’d been making everything.”
On the 20th hole, Frost had a 10-foot putt for birdie from about the same spot as he had putted the first time around, so he knew what it would do.
“I’d been playing too much break all day,” said Frost. “This time I played it at the left side and it snuck in the right corner.”
Plummer was leading Manoogian by two holes with three to play, but Manoogian won 16 and 18 to send the match to extra holes, where Manoogian finally won with a birdie on the 22nd hole.
“I had the same putt the first time around,” said Manoogian, who acknowledged that Plummer was the heavy favorite, but he said he didn’t let any pressure get to him.
“I’ve played with him several times before,” said Manoogian. “I wasn’t intimidated like I was the first time I played with him.”
Poulin thought he had earned a spot in sudden death when he made his chip on 18.
“I used a 7-iron. I had a good read on it, and when it was about 5 feet away, I said ‘Oh, that’s close,’ and then it turned right in,” said Poulin, who cheered the result, along with the crowd watching from the club porch.
“I started thinking about the playoff and that was the wrong thing to do,” he said. “You have to stay in the moment.”
Gall said, “I was stunned.”
Gall lined up his putt, although he was already thinking playoff.
“I read it a foot left,” said Gall of how much he had to play it outside the hole to compensate for the break. “I told myself to just get it there.”
He did, bringing a second cheer from the crowd.
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